by Gary Ostlund
In a time honored tradition, a veteran engineer and conductor compare time somewhere on the
Southern Pacific System about 1930. Standardizing time by the railroads was a massive undertaking
and played a huge role in providing safe movement of passengers and goods.
Sun Time was standard, with high noon setting the norm. When it was high noon in Chicago it
was 11:27 AM in Omaha, 11:41 AM in St Paul, 11:50AM in St Louis, 12:31 PM in Pittsburgh and
12:50 PM in Washington, D.C. The Buffalo depot had three clocks, one for each railroad. A
Chicago newspaper claimed that Illinois had twenty-seven different times, Wisconsin thirty-eight,
and so on.
Until long distance movement of goods and people, coordinated time was of little concern. For
the railroads though, even with telegraphic dispatching, extensive timetables, and a plethora of rules,
standardized time was seriously needed.
After much political, bureaucratic and entrepreneurial bickering on November 18, 1883 America
finally adopted Standard Time Zones. Their boundaries have remained relatively unchanged.
You can be assured that the two pocket watches held by the gentlemen above have been
inspected regularly, and the conductor checked his with the dispatcher as he picked up his train
orders and headed for the platform. Railroads spent fortunes making certain that time was correct.
(The picture graced the cover of the Spring 2010 SP Trainline magazine, the official publications of the Southern Pacific Historical & Technical Society. Text excerpts from Trainline and the Routledge Historical Atlas of the American Railroads.)
